JP2006031671A - Image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing system capable of easily executing image data processing.
When an image data file is received, it is confirmed in step S11 whether there is a file to be transferred. If there is a file, the process proceeds to step S12, and the file is transferred from the camera. In step S13, it is confirmed whether there is additional data. If there is no additional data, a predetermined default process is executed in step S14. If there is, processing with additional data is performed in step S15. After step S14 or step S15, the process proceeds to step S16 to check whether the process is successful. If the process is successful, the process returns to step S11. If not successful, the data acquisition is terminated.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system having an image processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a printer compatible with direct printing, and more particularly to an image processing system capable of easily processing image data.

There is known a digital still camera capable of recording a photographing target as digital data. In such an apparatus, captured image data is stored in a memory in the main body and is often taken out as necessary. That is, image data can be transmitted / received to / from an external device through communication (for example, see Patent Document 1). The image data may be subjected to processing such as distortion correction and peripheral light amount correction as necessary. As the distortion correction processing, there is generally known a table lookup method for obtaining a lens distortion rate for each in-focus position and zoom position (see, for example, Patent Document 2). As the peripheral light amount correction process, a correction process using a cosine fourth law generally known as a light reduction rate is known (see, for example, Patent Document 3).
JP 2001-230999 A JP-A-9-294225 Japanese Patent No. 3461610

However, in the conventional method, in order to perform processing on an image taken with a digital still camera, it takes time and effort to manually select an image file and processing software.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image processing system capable of easily executing image data processing.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 is directed to an image recording apparatus having a recording unit capable of adding additional information to an image of an image file and recording the image file, and reading the additional information into an image. An image processing apparatus having an image processing means for processing the image file, and an image file exchanging means for exchanging the image file between the image recording apparatus and the image processing apparatus. Further, image processing is performed on the image included in the image file by using the added additional information.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the additional information is lens characteristic information at the time of recording, and distortion aberration correction processing is performed.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the additional information is lens characteristic information at the time of recording, and a peripheral light amount correction process is performed.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the additional information includes a lens type, a focus position, and a zoom position at the time of recording, and distortion aberration correction processing is performed.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the additional information includes a lens type, a focus position, and a zoom position at the time of recording, and a peripheral light amount correction process is performed.
The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the additional information is a correction processing type and a correction value for the image, and correction processing is performed according to the additional information.

  According to the present invention, when an image from the image recording unit is captured in the image processing apparatus, the image processing is performed using the additional information added to the image of the image file, so that the image is automatically selected when the image is captured. Thus, the file can be processed, and the image data can be easily processed.

Hereinafter, an image processing system which is the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the image processing system described here, an image recording apparatus such as a digital still camera having a function capable of embedding (adding) additional data such as information and a memo to execute specified processing in an image; In this example as an image processing apparatus, image data and additional data can be exchanged with a personal computer. Before taking a picture, select the input content desired by the photographer on the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) of the digital still camera (image recording device), and then embed (add) as additional data in the image data file. Is done. Alternatively, the input content may be selected and embedded at the time of reproduction. When inputting a memo or the like, sound or image data may be embedded in the additional data area to save time.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a main part of an image processing apparatus in an image processing system which is the best mode for carrying out the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus includes a CPU 1 that performs processing according to a program, a ROM 2 and a RAM 3 that store programs, a memory card 4 that stores data, a memory card I / F 5, an HDD 6, and input control means 7 using a keyboard and a mouse. , An image display control means 8 for controlling an image displayed on the CRT or LCD, a USB I / F 9 for communicating with an external device, and a communication I / F 10. Note that the data fetching may include any one of delivery by the memory card 4 and delivery by communication such as USB or LAN.
These can be constituted by a personal computer (PC) and image capturing software (SW). The PC is equipped with an operating system (OS), and the SW is executed by the function of the OS. The PC is equipped with a storage device such as an HDD, and the storage device is managed as a storage area by a file system (FS) which is a function of the OS. The application software can access the storage area by a function provided by the OS, and designates the storage area by a file path name including a drive name, a folder name, and a file name. With such a configuration, an image file exchanging means for delivering an image file to / from a digital still camera is realized in the PC.

FIG. 2 shows the basic structure of the file. Information relating to lens characteristics is stored as additional data, and based on this information, distortion aberration correction processing and peripheral light amount correction processing are performed by an operation flow described later. The file structure may store additional data in an option area of a standardized format such as EXIF. By the operation based on the additional information related to the lens characteristics, it is possible to perform the distortion aberration correction process and the peripheral light amount correction process based on the lens characteristic information when capturing an image. Accordingly, since the file is automatically selected when the image is captured, the image data can be easily processed. Note that, for the distortion correction processing, a table look-up method for obtaining a lens distortion rate for each in-focus position and zoom position is generally known (see Patent Document 2).
It is known that the distortion rate D (%) is expressed by the following equation.
D = (Y−H) / H × 100
Y is the actual (photographed) image height H is the ideal image height If the above equation is known in advance, it is possible to determine the ideal image height H to be corrected with respect to the actual (photographed) image height Y Thus, the distortion can be corrected by correcting the image height.
If the above equation is used as table data for each in-focus position and zoom position, distortion aberration correction can be performed.
As the peripheral light amount correction processing, correction processing using a cosine fourth law generally known as a light reduction rate is known (see Patent Document 3).
The cosine fourth law is that when a subject on the optical axis is displaced in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis, the brightness on the image plane is the same as the main axis from the optical axis and subject even though the subject is the same brightness. A phenomenon in which the angle of light decreases in proportion to the fourth power of cosine.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a decrease in the amount of peripheral light by the cosine fourth law.
Then, by correcting the luminance of the peripheral portion of the image so as to be the same as that of the central portion based on the cosine fourth law, the peripheral light amount of the image can be corrected.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a first example of additional data. FIG. 3 shows a case where the lens type, focus position, and zoom position at the time of recording are used as additional information. The lens type is set as data 1 for performing distortion correction processing, the in-focus position at the time of shooting is set as data 2, and the zoom position is set as data 3. The image processing device has a table of correction values for distortion and peripheral light amount, which are the focal length and zoom position for each lens, and the image correction processing program reads the additional data of the image file and sets the correction value table according to the lens type. The correction value can be determined by the zoom position and the focus position.

FIG. 4 is a processing flow showing an operation in the case of performing processing with additional data in the image processing system which is the best mode for carrying out the present invention. In this operation flow, when an image data file to which processing control data is added by a memory card or USB I / F is received, it is confirmed whether there is a file to be transferred in step S11. If there is a file, the process proceeds to step S12, and the file is transferred from the camera. In step S13, it is confirmed whether there is additional data. If there is no additional data, a predetermined default process is executed in step S14. If there is, processing with additional data is performed in step S15. After step S14 or step S15, the process proceeds to step S16 to check whether the process is successful. If the process is successful, the process returns to step S11. If not successful, the data acquisition is terminated. Thus, if the additional data includes lens characteristic information such as lens type, in-focus position, and zoom position, image processing for distortion aberration correction and peripheral light amount correction can be performed. Accordingly, since the file is automatically selected when the image is captured, the image data can be easily processed.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a second example of additional data. This is a case where the correction processing type and correction value for the image are used as additional information. Data 1 includes a distortion aberration correction processing type, data 2 includes a correction value related to distortion, data 3 includes a peripheral light amount correction processing type, and data 4 includes a correction value related to peripheral light amount. The correction value is stored in the image recording apparatus and can be embedded in the image file by the recording person at the time of recording. Thereby, the recording person can instruct the presence or absence of processing. By performing processing based on FIG. 5, correction processing can be performed using correction type information and correction value information when an image is captured. Accordingly, since the file is automatically selected when the image is captured, the image data can be easily processed.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the invention when a printer is used as the image processing apparatus will be described. This printer is provided with a memory card I / F, and can be printed without using a PC by inserting a memory card recorded by a digital still camera. A printer that has a USB I / F and is connected to a digital camera with a USB cable so that printing can be performed without using a PC may be used.
FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of the printer. The printer includes a CPU 11 that performs processing according to a program, a ROM 12 that stores programs and fonts, a RAM 13 that temporarily stores print data and video data converted into a print pattern, and a host I / F 14 that is connected to a host machine such as a PC. Panel control 16 for controlling the operation panel 15 for switching control operations and performing interface operations, an engine I / F 18 linked with the printer engine 17 for performing printing operations, and a USB I / F 19 for directly connecting a digital camera And a memory card I / F 21 for reading an image from the memory card 20.
FIG. 7 is a processing flow showing the operation of the printer. When a memory card is inserted or a digital camera is connected, an image file printing program is activated. In step S21, it is confirmed whether there is a file to be printed. If there is no file, the printing is terminated in step S22. If there is no additional data, a default process determined in advance in step S25 is executed. If there is additional data, a process using the additional data is performed in step S26. After step S25 or step S26, the process proceeds to step S27 to perform printing processing. As a result, if the additional data includes lens characteristic information such as the lens type, in-focus position, and zoom position, printing can be performed after performing image processing for distortion aberration correction and peripheral light amount correction. Accordingly, since the file is automatically selected when the image is captured, the image data can be easily processed.

1 is a block diagram of a main part of an image processing apparatus in an image processing system that is the best mode for carrying out the present invention. Schematic showing the basic structure of the file. Schematic which shows the 1st example of additional data. 1 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of an image processing system that is the best mode for carrying out the present invention. Schematic which shows the 2nd example of additional data. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a printer in an image processing system that is the best mode for carrying out the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing operations of the printer. The figure which showed the fall of the peripheral light quantity by the cosine fourth power law.

Explanation of symbols

1, 11 CPU, 2, 12 ROM, 3, 13 RAM, 4, 20 Memory card, 5, 21 Memory card I / F, 9, 19 USB I / F, 14 Host I / F, 15 Operation panel, 16 panel Control, 17 printer engine, 18 engine I / F

Claims (6)

An image recording apparatus having recording means capable of adding additional information to an image of an image file and recording the image file;
An image processing apparatus having image processing means for reading the additional information and processing the image;
Image file transfer means for transferring the image file between the image recording device and the image processing device;
An image processing system for performing image processing on the image included in the image file delivered by the image file exchanging means, using the added information.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the additional information is lens characteristic information at the time of recording, and distortion correction processing is performed.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the additional information is lens characteristic information at the time of recording and performs peripheral light amount correction processing.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the additional information includes a lens type, a focus position, and a zoom position at the time of recording, and performs distortion correction processing.   2. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the additional information includes a lens type, a focus position, and a zoom position at the time of recording, and performs peripheral light amount correction processing.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the additional information is a correction processing type and a correction value for the image, and correction processing is performed according to the additional information.

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